


Where the Heart Is

by teamchaosprez



Series: With the Stars and Us [2]
Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Communication, Fluff, House Hunting, M/M, Plans For The Future, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:20:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25581985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teamchaosprez/pseuds/teamchaosprez
Summary: Yosuke and Yu look for a place of their own.
Relationships: Hanamura Yosuke/Narukami Yu, Hanamura Yosuke/Persona 4 Protagonist
Series: With the Stars and Us [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1721764
Comments: 4
Kudos: 58





	Where the Heart Is

**Author's Note:**

> you do not need to read the previous works in the series for this to be understood. it exists so i can keep track of it.

The best thing about Inaba, Yu thinks, is that the housing is  _ way _ cheaper than it would be in the city. He wouldn’t be surprised if there were landlords or real estate agents offering to pay people to move into the town for how much he’s heard about the dropping population.

The fact that it’s the town he fell in love with on his own, where he spent the best year of his life and where his uncle, cousin, and most of his friends live is pretty high up on the list too.

He’s been living with the Dojimas again for the last two and a half years while attending the nearest college and working on his criminal justice degree, but he’s managed to score a decent job answering phones for the police department. His relationship with Yosuke, now a manager at Junes trying for a business degree to land a corporate position someday, has been progressing pretty well too since before he even left back to the city, and he’s making about as much.

So, the obvious next step in both of their minds was to start looking for a house that they could own or rent together.

Or, well, an  _ apartment _ was actually Yu’s first thought, still in the Tokyo mindset. Yosuke had laughed at him and said that they might as well end up in a house for a similar price. There are an abundance of empty ones left behind when young couples or small families fled the countryside to find new opportunities elsewhere.

He’s sitting on the Dojimas’ couch with Yosuke lounging against him and his laptop on his lap, clicking through ads placed for houses or apartments for rent.

“Anywhere near the shopping district is looking a little out of budget,” he comments, clicking on a particularly nice-looking apartment and sighing after checking the monthly rent. “Man, these still aren’t anywhere near Kichijoji expensive, but it’s still a little ridiculous.”

“Well, yeah, that’s the one part of town that’s even  _ remotely _ high traffic. That and Yukiko’s family’s inn are the two places anyone from out of town ends up coming to besides  _ maybe _ Junes.” Yosuke shifts a little against him and points at a different listing. “Hey, this one looks like it’s in my parents’ neighborhood. Click on it.”

Yu opens the listing, sees the price, and immediately closes the tab; Yosuke laughs. 

“Your neighborhood and this neighborhood are probably a little bit bigger than we need right now, anyway,” Yu says, and so the scrolling through pictures of houses and the occasional apartment continues in a comfortable silence.

They’ve been sitting there for a couple of hours by the time the television turns on to the familiar theme song of Nanako’s favorite quiz show, and the two university students look up instinctively. She’s paying attention to the show, but looks a little bummed out; probably because she doesn’t want her older cousin moving out just yet. Yu talked to her about this when he and Yosuke first started talking about moving in together; she’s afraid of being stuck alone in an empty house every day again.

He understands that. He really does.

“Hey, Nanako-chan,” Yosuke speaks up before he can get the chance to, “Do you want to help us look for a place?”

That seems to perk her up, at least a little. The elementary schooler hops up to her feet and hurries over to sit against Yu’s other side, looking at the screen for a little while before pointing out one particular house; “Hey, that one’s right down the road!” she announces, looking at Yu with wide eyes. “I didn’t know it was for sale! You should live there!”

With an interested hum, Yu clicks the link; “Oh, these are the suggested mortgage payments, and it’s got three bedrooms. It’s within our budget, but… it’s probably not for us.”

“What’s a mortgage, big bro? What’s the difference between that and rent?” Nanako asks, looking a little dejected by the refusal but otherwise rather curious.

“Well, with a mortgage you’re basically paying back a loan you took out to get a house permanently. When you’re paying rent, someone else owns the house and you’re giving them money every month so you can keep living there until the contract saying you’d pay them wears off and you need to either move or sign again.” Yu stretched; “We’re looking for a spot to rent right now. We aren’t sure we want to do a mortgage or own a house quite yet.”

“But if you own a house, then you don’t have to worry about having to leave!” Nanako chirps, and clings to his arm. “You guys are gonna stay together and stay here, right?”

Yu’s first instinct is to say  _ yes, _ but he realizes before the word even has a chance to leave him that he’s not sure how comfortable Yosuke is with discussing the permanent future of their relationship, their living situation, their plans. And this doesn’t really seem like a conversation that should be had in front of Nanako, so… he just goes quiet, and so does Yosuke.

He closes the laptop and puts it down to the side, weakly saying something about how they should watch the quiz show now because they need a break. Nanako seems happy with that and hops down to sit at the kotatsu instead, and Yosuke continues to lean against him. While the silence had been calm and content before, though, it was now a little awkward, air tense with a conversation they… honestly most likely needed to have sometime before moving in together.

“Hey, I’m home,” came an announcement from Dojima as the front door slid open; “I brought a sushi platter to make up for being late. I ended up visiting Adachi after my shift.”

“Sweet, let’s eat, then.” Yu’s grateful for the way the atmosphere eases as soon as food is involved. That saves him energy until later. He gets up to grab some sushi, and tries his best not to think about permanence for a little while.

* * *

It’s pretty late by the time the sushi is eaten, a movie is watched, and Nanako is led off to bed, so Yosuke ends up deciding to stay the night. That’s definitely the only reason. Them ending up cuddling on Yu’s futon shirtless is also purely convenience.

“You think we’ll be together long enough to end up owning a house? It might not be a bad idea to do it early so we’re not worrying about mortgage payments when we’re making arrangements for retiring.” Yosuke speaks as he rolls on top of him, and Yu runs a hand through his boyfriend’s hair to get it out of his face.

He really does love him. He wants this to last forever.

“You think we should stay in Inaba forever?” Not that Yu has a problem with the idea - he does, genuinely, like living here a lot. If any of their friends decide to move away, though… he has a feeling the small town charm would wear off in a matter of days. Or if Yosuke has to move away for the corporate job he’s hoping for. Or if, heaven forbid, they break up.

They’ve been through so much together, though. They saved the world together - it’s still weird to think that was creeping up on four years ago - and they’ve been together ever since. There’s a cynical part of Yu’s mind that tells him that he’s just thinking this way because they got together when they were so young, that he’s sticking with what he knows and not branching out or doing any soul searching, but…

He’s had a few relationships. None of them lasted very long, and only this one - the one with Yosuke - could he envision an entire future with.

“I mean, we could always sell the house if we  _ have _ to before the mortgage payments are up. For now, we could just consider it… semi-permanent, or something, like that.” Whether Yosuke’s arguments are actually rather convincing or he’s just repeating stuff Yu was already thinking about, he wasn’t sure. “The three bedrooms might be a bit much, though.”

“I dunno,” Yu smiles faintly, gives him a light kiss on the corner of his mouth. “I can see us getting married after we graduate in a year or two. Raising a couple of kids once we’re stable in post-degree jobs.”

Yosuke’s cheeks turn bright pink and he sits up, still straddling Yu’s hips with his legs. “A private investigator and a Junes manager would probably raise some really weird kids, but… it  _ does _ sound nice, doesn’t it? We definitely have enough friends to give them more aunts and uncles than they know what to do with. I think they’d be happy.”

“Teddie might be happier, though.”

Yosuke laughs quietly and leans down to give Yu a kiss on the forehead. “I can’t wait to spend my life with you, partner.”

“I can’t wait either, partner,” Yu replies with a soft smile, and then turns as best he can with Yosuke on top of him to grab his laptop and send an email to the house’s owner.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! please kudos/comment if you enjoyed!


End file.
